CONMAN AT THE MOVIEShttps://conmanatthemovies.com
Of all the blogs in all the world, you stumbled upon mine.
Wed, 02 Jan 2019 05:13:25 +0000 en
hourly
1 http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/fd96631a611a7019832726c7ef15fee4?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngCONMAN AT THE MOVIEShttps://conmanatthemovies.com
Update: The future of my AwardsBlogginghttps://conmanatthemovies.com/2018/02/08/update-the-future-of-my-awardsblogging/
https://conmanatthemovies.com/2018/02/08/update-the-future-of-my-awardsblogging/#respondThu, 08 Feb 2018 22:09:21 +0000http://conmanatthemovies.com/?p=17470So, I’m torn regarding the future of this blog. One the one hand, I do genuinely miss it, and I want to talk about the Oscar race this year. But on the other hand, it’s a lot of work. I’m going to attempt to shake things up a bit, by trying to do videos on YouTube instead of written posts. We’ll see how it works out. For those of you who are interested, here is the link to the first video. Hopefully, I do 24 of them. We’ll see what happens.

Well, based on everything I saw in the news, 2017 sucked. But as far as my personal life is concerned, it was a pretty good year. I moved far away from my hometown, I got my first job, and I turned 21.

But on New Year’s Eve, I started to do a little bit of thinking about this very blog.

I started this blog almost six years ago. I was a lot younger, and my writing has evolved a lot over the years. I’m happy that I started the blog, as it helped improve not only my writing but also my sense of discipline.

But I noticed that, despite doing this blog for 6 years, I don’t really have that many followers. It hasn’t really gone anywhere, despite all the work I’ve put into it.

Recently, my life has been very busy, and this blog is starting to feel like one more thing that has to be done. And I don’t even feel like I’m doing this for anybody.

Long story short, I am seriously considering ending the blog.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I will continue to watch movies and predict the Oscars, but on my own time. And I’ll likely tweet about it. It’s even possible that I might end up writing for a more prolific site at some point in time. But for the time being, it seems pointless to continue doing this blog if nobody is reading.

I don’t want anybody to think I’m doing this because I’m depressed or anything. I just have a lot going on in my life right now. In addition to the job, I also have two personal projects, I’m working on. One is a fan-fiction that I’m putting a lot of heart and soul into. (See it here.) The other is a more long term project – an independent video game. I’m currently in the pre-development phase, but if this gets done, it will truly be something special.

I want to know your thoughts in the comments. If I get a vocal outcry, then I’ll keep writing the blog. But If the comments support my decision. (Or if there are no comments at all.) Then this may very well be my last post.

For those of you who have stuck with me for a long period of time, thank you very much.

]]>https://conmanatthemovies.com/2018/01/02/new-years-and-an-announcement/feed/5connorolen2017 Double Review: The Greatest Showman & Downsizinghttps://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/24/2017-double-review-the-greatest-showman-downsizing/
https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/24/2017-double-review-the-greatest-showman-downsizing/#respondSun, 24 Dec 2017 00:31:10 +0000http://conmanatthemovies.com/?p=17466I saw both of these films in one day. At the beginning, if the year, both of them were among my most anticipated films of 2017. And both of these films went on to receive very divisive reviews. As it happens, I thought one of these movies was really good. The other… not so much.

As I’m writing this, The Greatest Showman stands at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Talk about divisive. A lot of people seemed disappointed by this film, but personally, I really enjoyed it.

The film has wonderful production design and costume design, and that helps to transport you into the film’s world. The music by Pasek and Paul is amazing, and the actors are all giving it 110%.

However, I can understand why some people don’t like it. The editing can be a little choppy at times, and the sound mixing can occasionally make it hard to hear the lyrics. Plus, some people might take issue with the fact that the film sugar-coats some of the darker aspects of the true story. (Even though it’s really nothing new in Hollywood.)

It’s not exactly a perfect film, but it’s an enjoyable one. What can I say, I just love musicals.

*** out of ****

You might not know this about me, but I have always been fascinated by the concept of shrinking. I think there’s so much storytelling potential with the idea, from both a comedic standpoint as well as a dramatic one. When I heard about this film, I got super excited. Sadly, it ended up being the biggest disappointment of the year.

I like the first act, the second act just drags, and the third act goes completely off the rails. It reminds me a little of mother! It tries to do too many things at once and it comes across as too ambitious for its own good.

I like the production design, and I like Hong Chau’s performance, but there simply isn’t enough there to save this movie once the third act starts. It’s weird because I usually like Alexander Payne’s films. I really don’t know what went wrong with this film, but the finished product is a mess.

*1/2 out of ****

]]>https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/24/2017-double-review-the-greatest-showman-downsizing/feed/0connorolenimages.jpgdownload-1.jpg2017 Movie Reviews: What If: A ‘Life Is Strange’ Storyhttps://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/18/2017-movie-reviews-what-if-a-life-is-strange-story/
https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/18/2017-movie-reviews-what-if-a-life-is-strange-story/#respondMon, 18 Dec 2017 16:30:38 +0000http://conmanatthemovies.com/?p=17457Why is it so difficult to make a film adaptation of a video game?

We’ve seen Hollywood try time and time again to make this work, but it never does. From Super Mario Bros. to Assassin’s Creed, the filmmakers can’t ever seem to get it right.

A lot of people seem to look down at video games as a whole. Even the great Roger Ebert said that video games were not art and never could be. (Obviously, he never played To The Moon.)

But what’s interesting is that even directors who are adapting these video games don’t seem to actually care about the source material. Justin Kurzel, the director of Assassin’s Creed, admitted in an interview that he hasn’t played a video game since he was a kid, and he seems oddly proud of this fact.

Funnily enough, the only people who seem able to make video game adaptations work are the actual fans. Iron Horse Cinema has done a good job at making short films and trailers inspired by video games, while ManOnTheInternet’s Undertale The Musical is a solid adaptation of the game, despite being over four hours long.

And this brings us to Carrsan T. Morrissey, who has done the impossible. With a ridiculously tiny budget, he has made a film adaptation of the game Life Is Strange. And guess what? It’s a hella good movie.

Now, it might seem kind of weird for me to do a review of this movie, considering that it’s only a fan film, it was released on YouTube, and it’s definitely not eligible for the Oscars. But the fact is, this is a legitimately good adaptation of the game. And I want more people to see this so that they can see how a proper video game adaptation is supposed to be done.

I must admit, I didn’t think this story could work as a movie. I thought it had way too much story to squeeze into a two-hour runtime. But the screenplay is very clever about what to cut and what to keep. The story has been simplified, but it still works as a compelling narrative.

Believe it or not, there are certain key moments in the film that are arguably done better than in the game. For instance, towards the end of the game, all of the alternate timelines that were being created were pretty confusing. The way that this is handled in the movie is a classic example of ‘less is more’.

Shelby Davis is perfectly cast as Max Caulfield. She has a very Ellen Page vibe to her, and she did a great job conveying Max’s internal struggle as well as her character growth. Skyler Ferguson also did a great job as Nathan Prescott.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is only passable at best. Now, this is to be expected given that this is a fan-made film, but it can at times be distracting. Kate Marsh’s scenes were very weighty on paper, but Abigail Van Patten’s line readings are a bit too flat to really sell her character’s depression. And as for Mads Hoofnagle as Chloe Price, she’s clearly trying her best, but she pales in comparison to Ashly Burch’s version.

Regarding the production value, it is fairly poor. The quality of the video and audio are far from perfect, and the special effects are… about as good as you would expect with this kind of budget. But there are some scenes where the low budget actually works to the film’s advantage. In particular, the way the film portrays time travel is simple but surprisingly effective.

Look, I’m not going to argue that this is one of the best films of the year, because it’s not. But I absolutely adore the screenplay, and I feel that if you took this script and gave it to an experienced cast and crew, you could have legitimately gotten a masterpiece.

You can watch the entire film here. Even if you haven’t played the game, I still think you’re going to enjoy the movie. If you can’t see past the low production value, I can understand that. But at the same time, this is probably the best example I can think of regarding how to make a film adaptation of a video game. I want Hollywood directors to watch this film and take notes. This is how it’s done, folks.

Guillermo Del Toro is a fascinating director, albeit not one that I have a ton of familiarity with. I do know that he’s been trying for years to make a film adaptation of The Witches, one of my favorite books. Hopefully, the success of this film will finally let Del Toro get The Witches made, but in the meantime, at least we have The Shape Of Water, a surprisingly beautiful film that shows Del Toro’s amazing talent.

What really strikes me about this film is how it feels like a fairytale. The film’s atmosphere makes it seem almost like a live action Disney movie, but with more swearing. It’s clear that Del Toro has a strong vision, and it comes through in every frame.

Outside of the direction, where this movie shines is in the overall presentation. Expect this movie to pick up a number of Tech Oscars. The set design is truly phenomenal, the score is astonishingly beautiful, and I like how the creature is brought to life using a combination of makeup and visual effects. More movies need to take note.

The entire cast is amazing. Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins both play very layered and likable characters. Michael Shannon and Octavia Spencer are also very good, even though neither of them stray very far from their ‘types’.

The Shape Of Water is a truly impressive film, and it’s definitely worth seeing. It will surely go down as one of the year’s best films, and I cannot reccomend it highly enough.

I actually saw Tommy Wiseau’s magnum opus The Room a few weeks before seeing The Disaster Artist for the first time. And while it’s certainly not something that I would call ‘good’, it’s also an incredibly fascinating film.It’s clear that a lot of passion went into it, and that Tommy Wiseau genuinely believed he was making an Oscar-worthy masterpiece.

Fourteen years later, James Franco takes it upon himself to actually make an Oscar-worthy masterpiece based on Tommy Wiseau’s cult hit. Normally, I’m not a fan of biopics but part of the reason I like this film so much is because it is telling such an interesting true story. I think it’s important that people know going in that this film is based on a true story. If you didn’t know, you’d never guess that everything that happens in this film really happened.

The film is very similar to Ed Wood. Even though it makes fun of Wiseau a little bit, it also celebrates him. He might be a complete lunatic, but he had a vision, and he saw it through to the end. Many people want to be movies, and he deserves recognition for actually getting the movie made, even if it didn’t turn out exactly how he expected.

James Franco does an incredible job transforming himself into Tommy Wiseau, while his brother Dave plays the role of the straight man to perfection. The rest of the star-studded cast do a great job at making these roles their own.

What really spoke to me was the film’s ending. As a wannabee storyteller myself, I get worried sometimes about the possibility that other people might not like my story. Seeing this movie made me have a personal epiphany.

First, no matter how good I think my work is, there’s always the slight possibility that it’s garbage and I just don’t see it. Second, it really doesn’t matter what other people think of my work, because all art is subjective. But if you truly put passion into your story, you can complete it.

You can share your vision with the world. That, at least, is something.

**** out of ****

]]>https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/17/2017-movie-reviews-the-disaster-artist/feed/0connorolenimages.jpg2017 SAG Nominationshttps://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/13/2017-sag-nominations/
https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/13/2017-sag-nominations/#respondWed, 13 Dec 2017 15:44:46 +0000http://conmanatthemovies.com/?p=17443I just want to start off by saying this – I was going to publish a set of predictions last night, but my computer was having technical issues. However, I still made a set of predictions, so I’ll still be comparing and contrasting.

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
Mudbound
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I’m 3/5, I had The Post and The Shape Of Water over The Big Sick and Get Out. Actually, The Post was completely shut out, which makes me think they didn’t see it in time. Which is strange, because the other important groups seem to have seen it by now.

So, going by the statistics, our next Best Picture is one of these five films. And that means that The Shape Of Water, Dunkirk, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post are no longer contenders to win.

2/5. And this is when SAG goes crazy. It feels weird to see Steve Carell make it on without Emma Stone. But it’s nice to see Woody Harrelson get his due for Three Billboards. I’m just curious about Armie Hammer being left out.

3/5. Wow. That might be the first time that Pixar missed with the Globes. The Boss Baby and Ferdinand feel like weird choices compared to Cars 3 and The Lego Batman Movie. But I guess it doesn’t really matter, seeing how the winner of this category has been set in stone for a long time now.

BEST FOREIGN FILM

A Fantastic Woman
First They Killed My Father
In The Fade
Loveless
The Square

3/5. Not much to say here.

On the TV side, I’m intrigued to see Jason Bateman and Katherine Langford nominated for two moderately successful Netflix shows Ozark and 13 Reasons Why.

Well, I got exactly 50/70. That averages out to roughly 71%

Anyway, these nominations are pretty crazy. I need time to digest them.

]]>https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/11/2017-golden-globe-nominations/feed/0connorolen2017 Golden Globe Predictionshttps://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/10/2017-golden-globe-predictions/
https://conmanatthemovies.com/2017/12/10/2017-golden-globe-predictions/#commentsSun, 10 Dec 2017 19:16:45 +0000http://conmanatthemovies.com/?p=17437Tomorrow, they announce the nominations for the Golden Globes, arguably the most important precursor to the Oscars. So, here are my predictions for what’s going to be nominated.

BEST PICTURE (Drama)

Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Shape Of Water

Despite being a supposed film buff, I haven’t seen a lot of films by Edgar Wright. It’s not like I’ve been actively avoiding his work or anything, I just never got around to it before. And considering the fact that his new film Baby Driver is getting some awards traction (mainly in the tech categories) I thought I would check it out.

While it might be a bit lacking in substance, the film is very enjoyable as an action comedy. All the action scenes are very impressive, and the comedy is very well written.

I also really liked the editing, though I highly doubt it will receive an Oscar nomination. The film’s best bet is in the Sound categories, for reasons that become obvious when you watch the film.

Unfortunately, this film has a bit of stigma seeing how it was the last film Kevin Spacey appeared in before the allegations against him dropped. As such, all the scenes with Spacey in them are a little uncomfortable to watch. But of course, this isn’t the movie’s fault.

Overall, Baby Driver to be an enjoyable, fun movie. I wouldn’t call it one of the year’s best films, but I do recommend it. And I look forward to discovering more of Edgar Wright’s films in the future.